Our text is Acts chapter two, verse forty, and actually the last part of verse forty, where Peter says, Be saved from this perverse generation. Please turn in your Bibles to that particular passage of Scripture. I wonder if you've ever talked with someone who has been out of the country for a number of years, like a missionary, and discovered their amazement at the decline in moral standards since they were last at home. Or have you noticed how TV glorifies adultery and going out on husband or wife as the thing to do? It is never branded as sin. And have you seen what many of our congressmen and senators feel are the answers to children being born outside of marriage? Abortion is the answer for many. Such killing of the unborn is rarely called sin. Many of our lawmakers, to the contrary, want to teach more young children and young people about birth control. That's the answer to the problem of children being born outside of marriage, they say. These same congressmen and senators are never heard on the national news talking about the moral questions or the sin involved in having children outside of marriage. And this is just one area that we can talk about in answer to a critical question. And the question is this. Do we live in a perverse, corrupt and crooked generation? One of the fundamentals of the Christian faith is that we do live in a perverse generation. The Apostle Peter thought that his generation was a perverse generation, and he was not afraid to tell the people that. Listen to what he says. Be saved from this perverse generation. So as we look at this particular text, the first thing we need to talk about is this perverse generation. What does it mean? You see, the first step in understanding the salvation we have in Christ is to understand our need of that salvation. Then and only then can we talk about what it means to be saved from this perverse generation. And so our two main points taken from this particular text of Acts 240 are these. One, to discuss what Peter means by these words, this perverse generation, and two, to discuss what it means to be saved from this perverse generation. First of all then, what does Peter mean when he talks about this perverse generation? Well, we had better be sure what Peter means by the term generation. The word generation means every person living during a particular period of time. There is another meaning of the word generation, which is commonly used by each of us. We sometimes speak of all those born at a particular time as a generation, and we talk about teenagers being the younger generation, and we talk about their parents being the older generation. But this is not how Peter is using the word generation. Peter is talking about all the people living at a particular time. All the children, all the teenagers, all the parents, and all the elderly people living at the same time make up a generation of people. All of us here are part of the same generation, young and old alike. We are part of the generation living in the 80s. Now if you look again at Acts chapter 2 verse 40, you see that Peter speaks of this generation. Peter is speaking to a great crowd of people, to young and old alike. All the people living in Peter's day, young and old alike, were a generation. And Peter said to those people, this generation is a perverse generation. But now let's get one thing straight. Peter's generation was not a particularly evil generation. Compared to people who lived at other times, Peter's generation was not particularly bad. In fact, we can say the same thing about our generation, about people today. We live in a perverse generation. This generation, our generation, is also a perverse and a corrupt generation, and this is one of the things that we need to understand. This brings us then to the whole question of what it means to be perverse. Looking again at Acts 240, Peter says, be saved from this perverse generation. Now I'm reading from the New American Standard Version. The Revised Standard Version translates the same word, crooked. And the New International Version of the Bible translates the very same word, corrupt. These are words that describe the people living in Peter's day. They were perverse. That is, they were stubborn people. People who would rather do wrong than right. They were crooked. It's interesting, we often use that very same term today, don't we? They were crooked, dishonest, always ready to cheat. They were corrupt. That is, they were morally dirty or ready to take a bribe. This is how Peter describes his generation as perverse, crooked, and corrupt. And this very same generation, Peter's generation, is described by the Lord Jesus in several places. Let's just look at a few of them. Turn with me, if you would, to Matthew. Matthew chapter 12, verses 38 and 39. Matthew 12, 38 and 39. Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from you. But he answered and said to them, an evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign. and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet." Here we see Jesus describing this same generation as evil and adulterous. These people were basically evil. That's how the King James Version reads, too. The New International Version says wicked. And it means that these people were morally bad. They had bad moral character. And these same people were also adulterous. That means that adultery came easy to them. Faithfulness in marriage, in other words, was not something which was highly prized by these individuals. In fact, it was quite the opposite. And for another thing, divorce came very easy to these people. Then, if you would, look at Matthew 17, 17. Matthew 17, verse 17. And Jesus answered and said, O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. This generation that Jesus describes, Peter's generation, was not only perverse, it was unbelieving. The King James Version in Matthew 17, 17 calls this generation faithless, and so it was. But these people were more than faithless. They were active unbelievers. In fact, they were disbelievers. They purposefully refused to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then you can turn also to Mark 38, the gospel according to Mark, verse 38. It's the very last verse in that chapter. For whoever is ashamed of me and my word in this adulterous and sinful generation, the son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his father with the holy angels. Not only was this generation described by Jesus as adulterous and disbelieving, but it was described as sinful. Now, we may have started here. We very may well have started at this point describing this generation as sinful. And it would have been quite proper. For the Bible tells us that sin is breaking God's law, the Ten Commandments, and adultery is a violation of one of those commandments, the Seventh Commandment. And these people that Jesus describes again and again and again broke the Ten Commandments. This generation was a sinful generation, and these people were sinners. And you see, the basic problem with these people was a heart problem. The hearts of these people were perverted and corrupt. And crooked. Just turn the page of your Bible back to Mark chapter 7 verses 20 through 23, and Jesus explains this to us. And he was saying, That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of man, proceeds the evil thoughts and fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All of these things proceed from within and defile the man. Where did all this evil and corruption desires for adultery and every form of sin come from? Where did it all come from? These things came from within, from out of the hearts of these individuals. They came from within. That's what Jesus says. Why were the people of Peter's generation sinful and disbelieving? Their hearts were full of sin and disbelief. That's why. These people had serious heart disease. These people were perverse and crooked and corrupt because their hearts were perverse and crooked and corrupt. They were perverse and crooked and corrupt on the inside. You see, these people were therefore not basically good. They were basically bad. These people were perverted and depraved. Totally perverted. Totally depraved. Now if you go back to Acts 2.40 and read the end of that verse again, where Peter says, be saved from this perverse generation, let me ask you, do you see why Peter called his generation a perverse generation? I hope you do. Yet the amazing thing is that the people in our generation are no different. The description Peter gives of his generation and the description that Peter gives of that very same generation is a description of our generation too. This generation today, our generation, is a perverse generation. Isn't that the case? People in our generation are ready to cheat. They're ready to commit adultery. They are ready to read dirty books. They are ready to take a bribe, ready to lie, ready to get a divorce. And when we find ourselves ready to lie and to cheat, what is the problem? The problem is with our hearts. Our hearts are full of sin. This generation is just as perverse as Peter's generation. Two further things must be said about this perverse generation. First of all, the members of this perverse generation will not enter God's heaven. This is a frightful thing. Listen to what Revelation, the last book of the Bible, says in chapter twenty one verse eight. It says the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars. Their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. You see, those who continue on as members of this perverse generation will not enter heaven, but they will be severely judged for their sin. And then second, the members of this perverse generation cannot save themselves from this judgment. There are frequently stories in the news about people who are trapped in mines, coal mines for instance. And people trapped in mines cannot save themselves. They must be saved by others. In a similar fashion, people in this perverse generation cannot save themselves either. They are trapped by their own sin. They must be saved by someone else. As Jesus so forcefully put it, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." And in another place he said, no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father. And so this brings us to our second main point. Peter, if you look at the text, very forcefully says, be saved from this perverse generation. Now notice very carefully what Peter is telling us here. Peter is speaking of being saved, rather than of saving yourself. The translation in the King James Version and in the New International Version is, save yourselves from this perverse generation. But the better translation is in the New American Standard Version. where it says, Be saved from this perverse generation. Peter wants these people to be saved. He is not asking them to save themselves. Peter knows that these people cannot save themselves. Peter knows that these people are trapped in sin. Peter knows that these people cannot keep from sinning, cannot keep from breaking God's law in the Ten Commandments, and that they cannot please God. Peter understands the very same thing that the Apostle Paul understood when he wrote to the Christians at Rome. Listen to Romans 7 and 8. Listen carefully. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Peter knows that this is true. Peter knows that these people to whom he speaks cannot save themselves, but that they must be saved. And the same is true with our generation today. The same is true with you. And me. We cannot save ourselves. We must be saved. By someone else. As a part of this perverse generation, we cannot please God by doing good. As a part of this perverse generation, we cannot please God by doing good because we cannot do good. We have fatal heart disease, and that fatal heart disease is called sin. And as long as we are a part of this perverse generation and have hearts full of sin and corruption, we will be unable to please God. And that's why Peter says, be saved from this perverse generation. Somehow, you see, we must be separated from this perverse generation. Somehow, we must be taken out of this perverse generation of people. Somehow, distance must be placed between us and the corrupt people of this world. Somehow, we must be separated from the corrupt people of this generation. We must be separated from this crooked generation because this crooked and perverse generation will be judged. And those who continue to live lives of lying and cheating and stealing will not be permitted in God's heaven. Such people will be punished. They will be cast into the eternal lake of fire and they will experience eternal separation from God. But if we are really going to be saved and separated from this crooked generation, a couple of other important things must take place. Our sins must be paid for. The penalty for our sins must be paid. Those who are thrown into the lake of fire pay the penalty for their own sins. And if we are to be saved, someone else must pay the penalty for our sins. Then, too, if distance is to be put between us and this present corrupt generation, we definitely cannot continue to live like we are still part of this generation. And that means that our lives must be changed. And if our lives are to be changed, our hearts must be changed. And that means, in turn, that we must be born again. You see, all of these things are a part of what it means to be saved from this perverse generation. To be saved from this perverse generation means to be taken out of it and to be separated from it. To be saved from this corrupt generation means that someone else pays for our sins. To be saved from this crooked generation means that we are given new hearts. And to be saved in this way, oh dear friends, to be saved in this way is the only way to be safe, to be sure, that is, that we are going to go to heaven. But now, if you cannot save yourself, who is it that can save you? Well, I want to tell you, only God, only God can save you. Only God can save you and me. Only God can do that. And God does this by separating people from and taking them out of their sinful generation. God does this by sending Christ into the world to die on the cross to pay the penalty due to the sins of these same people. God does this by sending the Holy Spirit into the world to give new hearts to these people so that they can trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation from sin. This is how individual people are saved from this perverse generation, and they are saved by God. But I want to look at one more thing about Peter's words in Acts 240. Peter says, Be saved from this perverse generation. Do you hear the exhortation? Be saved from this perverse generation. Do you hear Peter pleading with you? Do you hear Peter urging, be saved from this perverse generation? Peter is saying to you and he's saying to me, you are in great need. You are a part of a very perverse and corrupt and crooked generation. Peter is saying to you and to me, be saved from this generation. And you may respond to Peter and you may ask him, what must I do to be saved? And Peter will answer you, you cannot save yourself. You must trust in Christ to save you from your sins. You must trust in Christ as the one who has paid the penalty for your sins. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Oh dear friends, dear young people, Be saved from this perverse generation. Repent of your sin. Stop lying and cheating and living a sinful life. Turn away from doing wrong. Repent and ask God to forgive you of your sin. God does forgive you when you have truly repented and when you have asked Him to forgive you. Trust in Christ that He paid the penalty for your sins. The reason Christ died on the cross was to pay the penalty due to men and women and young people and children for their sins, and you must trust that Christ paid for your sins. Have you trusted in Christ to save you from your sins? There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved. O believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. Yes, trust in Christ's death for you, and be saved from this perverse generation." The Father in heaven grants that those who hear these words of Peter be saved from this perverse generation, will indeed trust in Christ as the only one who has paid the penalty, the terrible penalty for sin, and grant Almighty God that they would indeed be saved from this perverse generation. Grant it for Jesus' sake, we pray. Amen.